Detect if the application in background or foreground in swift

[UIApplication sharedApplication].applicationState will return current state of applications such as:

• UIApplicationStateActive
• UIApplicationStateInactive
• UIApplicationStateBackground

or if you want to access via notification see UIApplicationDidBecomeActiveNotification

Swift 3+

let state = UIApplication.shared.applicationState
if state == .background || state == .inactive {
    // background
} else if state == .active {
    // foreground
}

switch UIApplication.shared.applicationState {
    case .background, .inactive:
        // background
    case .active:
        // foreground
    default:
        break
}

Objective C

UIApplicationState state = [[UIApplication sharedApplication] applicationState];
if (state == UIApplicationStateBackground || state == UIApplicationStateInactive) {
    // background
} else if (state == UIApplicationStateActive) {
    // foreground
}